To clean or not to clean..... An important question..

I have close to 100 pieces of silver and silver-plate flatware. I have read a number of pros and cons about cleaning and polishing. My gut tells me to gently clean with a polishing cloth and that’s it. These pieces are anywhere from 50 years to 100+ years old and honestly feel that “polishing” them will really take away from their character…

All opinions and comments are welcome…

Thank you…

Always clean, but gently and not too frequently, would be my advice. The black oxidisation on silver is equivalent to rust on iron and steel; would you leave your best tools rusty?

I advise washing with a plant-based soap that has a neutral pH.